Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)
Spokesperson Matthew Miller leads the Department Press Briefing, at the Department of State, on October 9, 2024
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Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.
The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.
The Army Mission – our purpose – remains constant: To deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars by providing ready, prompt & sustained land dominance by Army forces across the full spectrum of conflict as part of the joint force.
Interested in joining the U.S. Army?
Visit: spr.ly/6001igl5L
Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Day 4-8 Severe Weather Outlook Issued on Oct 9, 2024
Updated: Wed Oct 9 08:32:03 UTC 2024
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D4 Sat, Oct 12, 2024 – Sun, Oct 13, 2024 D7 Tue, Oct 15, 2024 – Wed, Oct 16, 2024
D5 Sun, Oct 13, 2024 – Mon, Oct 14, 2024 D8 Wed, Oct 16, 2024 – Thu, Oct 17, 2024
D6 Mon, Oct 14, 2024 – Tue, Oct 15, 2024 (All days are valid from 12 UTC – 12 UTC the following day)
Note: A severe weather area depicted in the Day 4-8 period indicates 15%, 30% or higher probability for severe thunderstorms within 25 miles of any point.
PREDICTABILITY TOO LOW is used to indicate severe storms may be possible based on some model scenarios. However, the location or occurrence of severe storms are in doubt due to: 1) large differences in the deterministic model solutions, 2) large spread in the ensemble guidance, and/or 3) minimal run-to-run continuity.
POTENTIAL TOO LOW means the threat for a regional area of organized severe storms appears unlikely (i.e., less than 15%) for the forecast day.
Forecast Discussion
ZCZC SPCSWOD48 ALL ACUS48 KWNS 090830 SPC AC 090830
Day 4-8 Convective Outlook NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 0330 AM CDT Wed Oct 09 2024
Valid 121200Z – 171200Z
…DISCUSSION… Overall upper pattern across the central and eastern CONUS is expected to undergo significant amplification from D4/Saturday into D7/Tuesday as a series of shortwave troughs move through progressively deeper troughing. By early D7/Tuesday, upper troughing is expected to extend from the primary cyclone over the Canadian Maritimes into the central Plains.
A cold front is expected to accompany the first shortwave trough, moving across the eastern CONUS on D4/Saturday and D5/Sunday. Limited buoyancy should keep the thunderstorm potential along this front low. Strong ridging will follow in the wake of this front, with dry and stable conditions precluding thunderstorms across the majority of the CONUS. The only exception is along the Gulf Coast/Florida, where enough low-level moisture may be in place to support some thunderstorms.
Source: United States of America – The White House (video statements)
President Biden and Vice President Harris receive a briefing on the Administration’s life-saving preparations for Hurricane Milton, as well as the latest updates on the forecast and expected impacts for the State of Florida. The President and Vice President will also receive an update on the ongoing response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene across the Southeast.
The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, to make a series of announcements regarding the Jasper wildfire recovery effort.
October 9, 2024 Jasper, Alberta Parks Canada
The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages will make a series of announcements related to the Jasper wildfire recovery effort that will positively impact visitors and citizens, as well as lessees and licensees of Jasper.
Richard Ireland, Mayor of Jasper and Tyler Riopel, CEO of Tourism Jasper will also be in attendance.
Please note that this advisory is subject to change without notice.
The details are as follows:
Date: October 10, 2024 Time: 1:30 p.m. MT Location: Marmot Basin 1 Marmot Rd. Jasper, Alberta
An area closure is currently in effect on Highway 93A and Marmot Road. To gain access, please RSVP to the email below by 8 a.m. MT on Thursday, October 10, 2024. Media access details, including a tour through an area closure before the announcements, will be provided via email.
A neural network is a computational model consisting of layers of interconnected neurons. Like the neurons in your brain, these neurons process and send along a piece of information. Each neural layer receives a piece of data, processes it and passes the result to the next layer. By the end of the sequence, the network has processed and refined the data into something more useful.
While it might seem surprising that Hopfield and Hinton received the physics prize for their contributions to neural networks, used in computer science, their work is deeply rooted in the principles of physics, particularly a subfield called statistical mechanics.
As a computational materials scientist, I was excited to see this area of research recognized with the prize. Hopfield and Hinton’s work has allowed my colleagues and me to study a process called generative learning for materials sciences, a method that is behind many popular technologies like ChatGPT.
What is statistical mechanics?
Statistical mechanics is a branch of physics that uses statistical methods to explain the behavior of systems made up of a large number of particles.
Instead of focusing on individual particles, researchers using statistical mechanics look at the collective behavior of many particles. Seeing how they all act together helps researchers understand the system’s large-scale macroscopic properties like temperature, pressure and magnetization.
For example, physicist Ernst Ising developed a statistical mechanics model for magnetism in the 1920s. Ising imagined magnetism as the collective behavior of atomic spins interacting with their neighbors.
In Ising’s model, there are higher and lower energy states for the system, and the material is more likely to exist in the lowest energy state.
One key idea in statistical mechanics is the Boltzmann distribution, which quantifies how likely a given state is. This distribution describes the probability of a system being in a particular state – like solid, liquid or gas – based on its energy and temperature.
Ising exactly predicted the phase transition of a magnet using the Boltzmann distribution. He figured out the temperature at which the material changed from being magnetic to nonmagnetic.
Phase changes happen at predictable temperatures. Ice melts to water at a specific temperature because the Boltzmann distribution predicts that when it gets warm, the water molecules are more likely to take on a disordered – or liquid – state.
Statistical mechanics tells researchers about the properties of a larger system, and how individual objects in that system act collectively.
In materials, atoms arrange themselves into specific crystal structures that use the lowest amount of energy. When it’s cold, water molecules freeze into ice crystals with low energy states.
Similarly, in biology, proteins fold into low energy shapes, which allow them to function as specific antibodies – like a lock and key – targeting a virus.
Neural networks and statistical mechanics
Fundamentally, all neural networks work on a similar principle – to minimize energy. Neural networks use this principle to solve computing problems.
For example, imagine an image made up of pixels where you only can see a part of the picture. Some pixels are visible, while the rest are hidden. To determine what the image is, you consider all possible ways the hidden pixels could fit together with the visible pieces. From there, you would choose from among what statistical mechanics would say are the most likely states out of all the possible options.
In statistical mechanics, researchers try to find the most stable physical structure of a material. Neural networks use the same principle to solve complex computing problems. Veera Sundararaghavan
Hopfield and Hinton developed a theory for neural networks based on the idea of statistical mechanics. Just like Ising before them, who modeled the collective interaction of atomic spins to solve the photo problem with a neural network, Hopfield and Hinton imagined collective interactions of pixels. They represented these pixels as neurons.
Just as in statistical physics, the energy of an image refers to how likely a particular configuration of pixels is. A Hopfield network would solve this problem by finding the lowest energy arrangements of hidden pixels.
However, unlike in statistical mechanics – where the energy is determined by known atomic interactions – neural networks learn these energies from data.
Building upon Hopfield’s work, Hinton imagined another neural network, called the Boltzmann machine. It consists of visible neurons, which we can observe, and hidden neurons, which help the network learn complex patterns.
In a Boltzmann machine, you can determine the probability that the picture looks a certain way. To figure out this probability, you can sum up all the possible states the hidden pixels could be in. This gives you the total probability of the visible pixels being in a specific arrangement.
My group has worked on implementing Boltzmann machines in quantum computers for generative learning.
In generative learning, the network learns to generate new data samples that resemble the data the researchers fed the network to train it. For example, it might generate new images of handwritten numbers after being trained on similar images. The network can generate these by sampling from the learned probability distribution.
Generative learning underpins modern AI – it’s what allows the generation of AI art, videos and text.
Hopfield and Hinton have significantly influenced AI research by leveraging tools from statistical physics. Their work draws parallels between how nature determines the physical states of a material and how neural networks predict the likelihood of solutions to complex computer science problems.
Veera Sundararaghavan receives external funding for research unrelated to the content of this article.
Viviane Lapointe, Member of Parliament for Sudbury, and Marc G. Serré, Member of Parliament for Nickel Belt and Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers of Energy and Natural Resources and Official Languages, today announced that the Government of Canada is providing the City of Greater Sudbury with $150,000 in funding for a fact-finding mission and case study project aimed at improving wellbeing in mining communities in Northern Ontario. The announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister to Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor.
FedNor’s contribution supporting the completion of a fact-finding mission and case study to help communities in Northern Ontario better respond to opportunities and challenges in the mining sector
October 9, 2024 – Sudbury, ON – Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario – FedNor
Viviane Lapointe, Member of Parliament for Sudbury, and Marc G. Serré, Member of Parliament for Nickel Belt and Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers of Energy and Natural Resources and Official Languages, today announced that the Government of Canada is providing the City of Greater Sudbury with $150,000 in fundingfor a fact-finding mission and case study project aimed at improving wellbeing in mining communities in Northern Ontario. The announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister to Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor.
Funded through the Northern Ontario Development Program, the report adds to six previous case studies completed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as part of its Mining Regions and Cities Initiative. The study will include a review of the regulatory and policy environment for mining and related industries, with the goal of making recommendations for consideration by the federal and provincial governments.
To achieve this the OECD, in cooperation with Northern Ontario stakeholders, will explore the impact of the mining sector on economic, social and environmental wellbeing in Northern Ontario. This includes looking at its contribution to regional development, and assessing the progress of regional strategies and policies on improving the business environment for mining in Northern Ontario. Additionally, the fact-finding mission will create opportunities for knowledge exchange and learning among communities and the private sector.
Quotes
“Today’s investment of $150,000 into Northern Ontario mining and supply services sector will help better understand the opportunities and challenges miners face, how to protect the environment, and develop the needed support for long-term success within the industry.”
– The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor
“Sudbury has a rich history rooted in the mining sector that has expanded over the years to include a diverse mining supply and services industry. By supporting this study, the Government Canada is demonstrating its commitment to wellbeing of Northern Ontario and ensuring that the sector will continue to thrive, along with the communities and people that play a crucial role in its success.”
– Viviane Lapointe, Member of Parliament for Sudbury
“Today’s announcement will help us identify, plan for and develop a roadmap that will help lead us to a stronger, more sustainable mining industry that respects the environment and creates meaningful jobs for Canadians. We are proud to partner with the City of Greater Sudbury, the OECD and communities across the region to complete a full review of the regulatory and policy environment to develop recommendations to make mining stronger here at home and around the world.”
– Marc G. Serré, Member of Parliament for Nickel Belt and Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers of Energy and Natural Resources and Official Languages
“The City of Greater Sudbury is grateful for FedNor’s support and is excited to be partnering with the OECD on this important fact-finding mission. We know that Northern Ontario is home to a world-class mining and mining supply and services sector, and this study will allow us to identify our competitive advantages and share lessons learned with fellow OECD members.”
– Paul Lefebvre, Mayor, City of Greater Sudbury
Quick facts
The funding announced today is provided through FedNor’s Northern Ontario Development Program, which enables communities and First Nations to increase the number of community and/or regional economic development initiatives implemented, leading to increased business investment, job creation, and regional collaboration and partnerships.
The OECD is an international organization that works to build better policies for better lives. Their goal is to shape policies that foster prosperity, equality, opportunity and well-being for all. Together with governments, policy makers and citizens, they work on establishing evidence-based international standards and finding solutions to a range of social, economic and environmental challenges.
The OECD’s Mining Cities and Regions Initiative serves as a platform for exchanging good practices and promoting international standards aimed at improving well-being outcomes in mining regions.
The Government of Canada’s Prosperity and Growth Strategy for Northern Ontario identifies investing in building the economic development capacity of municipalities and Indigenous communities in the region as a key action.
Associated links
Contacts
Jennifer Kozelj Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor jennifer.kozelj@sac-isc.gc.ca
Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario Media Relations
For Pennsylvania residents like me, there is no escape from the record-breaking number of political attack ads disrupting our favorite shows and filling our social media feeds.
A projected US$10.7 billion is being spent nationwide – but particularly in battleground states – on political ads this election season.
For those who are feeling election fatigue and just want to stream in peace: Buckle in, because it’s about to get worse.
As of late August 2024, over $1.7 billion in political ads had been reserved nationwide to run between Labor Day and Election Day. Over $400 million of that is just for presidential election ads in seven key battleground states.
With Pennsylvania widely considered the most decisive state in the 2024 presidential election, it may be no surprise that the Keystone State has the most presidential ad reservations, totaling $137 million.
As a political communication expert and professor of media and social influence who lives in Philadelphia, I am often asked: “Why are there so many political ads, why are they so negative, and more importantly, how do we make it stop?”
I’ll answer the first two below. For the last, the truth is we don’t.
When voters perceive ads as unfair or manipulative, they are less likely to vote for the candidate or party producing the ads. And when subjected to repeated unwanted exposure to political ads, they can experience “psychological reactance” and behave opposite of what the ads intended.
Some studies also suggest that negative ads create election stress, which can reduce voter turnout among the less politically interested.
Historically, political advertising was considered an effective tool for educating voters, building momentum and engaging the politically uninterested.
Political ad spending has monumentally increased over the past several election cycles, and hit the billions after the landmark 2010 Citizens United case.
In that ruling, the Supreme Court decided that limiting spending from corporations or outside groups violated those groups’ First Amendment right to free speech. Prior to Citizens United, corporations and other groups like nonprofits and labor unions were subject to prohibitions on campaign donations. Individual campaign contribution limits, which currently stand at $3,300 per candidate per election, kept spending relatively level across the electorate.
Following the ruling, however, the influx of corporate and outside money completely changed the campaign finance landscape.
In 2010, political ad spending reached $3.3 billion – an 11% increase from the 2008 election that took place pre-Citizens United. A decade later, total spending on political ads soared to $9 billion in the 2020 election.
Significant portions of this spending come from political action committees that are not bound by traditional campaign contribution limits as long as they do not donate the money directly to a candidate or coordinate with a candidate’s campaign.
These groups, known as super PACs, can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from undisclosed donors. While super PACs have to disclose identities of people who donate over $200 in a year, donors can use shell companies to hide their identities.
During the 2024 election cycle, over $2.4 billion has been raised by super PACs. This is where much of the funding for the political ad barrage that voters experience in the weeks leading up to the election comes from.
For example, in the weeks following President Joe Biden leaving the race, 95% of pro-Trump ads focused on attacking Vice President Kamala Harris rather than promoting policy, according to the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political advertising.
But the media environment has changed drastically, and voters are growing resentful.
Voters resent microtargeting
Unlike traditional voter segmentation where an entire group of voters would receive similar messages, campaigns now use data analytics to microtarget messages for specific voters.
Microtargeting enlists the help of social monitoring companies to identify voters’ psychometric data – their hopes, fears, likes, dislikes and so on – so that campaigns can finely tune messages to target them on social media.
A 2020 Pew survey found that over half of voters believe tech companies should not allow political ads on social media. Three-quarters oppose campaigns using their personal data to target them with political ads.
Put simply, the political ad barrage coupled with microtargeting strategies is not an effective campaign strategy that sways voters’ minds. Meanwhile, there is growing evidence that this level of negativity is harming the electorate and undermining trust in democracy.
Heather LaMarre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Democratic candidate Tim Walz, during the vice presidential debate in which he said he ‘misspoke’ about being in Hong Kong during Tiananmen Square protests.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
During the Sept. 24, 2024, debate, Democratic vice presidential hopeful Tim Walz said he “misspoke” when asked to clarify his story of being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square crackdown in June 1989.
To many, Walz’s use of the word misspoke came across as an attempt to weasel out of what was at best an embellishment and at worst an outright lie.
The word misspoke has certainly long been used to politically backpedal after verbal inaccuracies or blunders, as Ronald Reagan learned in 1981 after he said that Syrian surface-to-air missiles placed in Lebanon were “offensive weapons,” when they were in fact defensive weapons. Both Presidents Bill Clinton and the much “misunderestimated” George W. Bush likewise were deemed to have misspoken after making mistakes, big and small.
For instance, a spokesperson for Clinton claimed he had misspoken when the then-president said that North Korea would not be allowed to develop a nuclear bomb – after there was reason to believe they had already developed them. During George W. Bush’s term in office, verbal errors were so common they earned a nickname of their own: “Bushisms.”
But misspoke’s extension to factual fabrication is one step further down the semantic road. In using it in this way, Walz joined other “misspoken” politicians, such as Hillary Clinton, who used it after falsely recollecting having landed in Bosnia under sniper fire.
As a sociolinguist who writes about how language changes over time, misspoke’s euphemistic recasting of lying as an inadvertent mistake calls for deeper linguistic scrutiny.
Tim Walz, being pressed on a statement he made and whether it was true, during the vice presidential debate.
From mumble to mea culpa
To understand how and why words morph like this, linguists like to trace them to their very beginnings.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “misspeaking” is quite old in the history of English, appearing as “missprecon” in a Northumbrian text dating before the 11th century. Its original sense was one of “to grumble” or “to mumble,” a meaning now obsolete.
But after the 11th century, its meaning shifted from inarticulateness to that of speaking amiss or disparagingly, often mentioned in reference to saying something improper or upsetting. Chaucer makes use of this sense in the “Miller’s Tale”: “And therfore if that I mysspeke or seye, Wyte it the ale of Southwerk, I you preye,” where the Miller handily blames a bit too much ale for whatever impropriety might fall from his mouth.
Around the time Chaucer was composing “The Canterbury Tales” in the late 14th century, the word “misspeak” branched off down yet another semantic path, taking on the meaning of “to speak incorrectly or misleadingly.” It is this sense that gave birth to the modern political mea culpa used when backtracking on a misleading prior statement, such as by Sen. John McCain after he claimed President Barack Obama was directly responsible for terrorist attacks on Americans.
Expanding meaning
These shifts in the meaning of a word over time fall under what linguists refer to as “semantic broadening.” Semantic broadening, which means expansion of a word’s meaning, is incredibly common, generally occurring when a word becomes used more frequently and across more situations. As a result, its core sense can expand to take on supplemental or tangential meanings.
Semantic shift like this is constantly at work, pushing and pulling senses in related but new directions to stay relevant to the needs of speakers.
The word “soon,” for instance, at first carried a meaning of “immediately,” but human nature being what it is, its meaning began to creep in the direction of “as immediately as possible” as people took their merry time.
Some new meanings, such as the nonliteral use of “literally” and Walz’s use of “misspeak,” are sites of contest, with multiple meanings at play.
The semantic broadening of misspeaking to cover not just misleading but knowingly false information didn’t start with Walz, nor did it begin with Clinton. In fact, this politically expedient expansion seems to go back at least to the Nixon administration.
There’s been a lot of misspeaking by politicians over the years, as these stories show. The Guardian US; The Hill; Wall Street Journal; Politico; Washington Post.
‘I misspoke myself’
In 1973, Nixon and his advisers were called to task in a Time article accusing them of a tendency to “make flat statements one day, and the next day reverse field with the simple phrase, ‘I misspoke myself.’” Given the Watergate scandal, it’s safe to say that misspoke as used by his administration had already shifted into deceptive speech territory.
Perhaps misspeaking’s semantic slippery slope started even further back, when the prefix “mis,” with its sense of “badly,” combined with “speaking.”
Consider other potentially weaselly words that are also formed by “mis” prefixation: misunderstood, misinterpret, mishear, mistake. These are all examples of words, like misspeak, that can and have been used by politicians to avoid taking responsibility for the false or “misleading” things they say.
Even if led astray by its prefix, from a linguistic perspective, the broadening of misspeak to cover not just incorrect but fabricated statements turns out to be not such a surprising development given the tendency of words to take on new senses over time, particularly in the world of political doublespeak.
The bigger surprise might be how this new meaning translates with voters, but that’s one surprise that will have to wait for the ballot box.
Valerie M. Fridland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Many Americans are not thrilled with either of the two major-party candidates for president. As of Oct. 4, 2024, polls showed that 46.5% had an unfavorable opinion of Kamala Harris and 52.6% felt unfavorably toward Donald Trump.
Some of these unhappy voters are considering voting for a third-party candidate, or not voting at all. They may be thinking of those actions as a form of protest against the two-party system dominant in the United States, or against these two particular candidates.
For example, in a September poll 3.5% of Michigan voters said they planned to vote for a candidate other than Harris and Trump.
At first glance, these choices might seem perfectly reasonable: If you don’t like a candidate, don’t vote for that person. But my work as a scholar of cognitive biases – systematic errors people make in their thinking – makes me fear that this option does not best serve the interests of those voters.
Instead, protest voting is in fact likely to harm the democratic process, potentially leading to the election of the candidate the majority of voters overall, and protest voters specifically, most dislike. There are several reasons protest voters might make this mistake.
How much does one vote matter?
It’s clear that any one vote is very unlikely to swing the presidential election. And some might say that if one vote doesn’t really matter, then voters may as well vote however they want, or not bother to vote at all. Here’s why that’s flawed thinking:
Suppose there are 10,000 voters in a state who feel unhappy with both candidates. But they almost surely dislike one candidate more than they dislike the other. Perhaps they disagree with some of Harris’ views but fear Trump. Or maybe it’s the other way around. They don’t have to agree on why they’re unhappy about the candidates either – some who are unhappy with Harris but prefer her over Trump may think Harris is too far left, while others may think she’s not enough of a leftist.
Now suppose the rest of the state’s voters – those who are happy to vote for one of the two major candidates – are very narrowly split. Perhaps the gap is 5,000 votes. So, if the 10,000 unhappy voters do vote for one of the two major-party candidates, they can swing the election.
Again, these unhappy voters really do have a preference – they like one of the major candidates better than the other. So while each individual unhappy voter wants to keep their hands clean and not vote, they would each like the other 9,999 unhappy voters to step up and swing the outcome in favor of their preferred candidate.
Parents teach the Golden Rule to kids – do unto others as you would have them do unto you – and most people do actually believe in it and try to act accordingly. In this case, following the Golden Rule means that if you’re an unhappy voter and would like other unhappy voters to hold their noses and vote for the major candidate they least dislike, you should be willing to do the same thing yourself.
But not all unhappy voters think this way. Some are led astray by their intuition and choose to protest-vote even when their own values would indicate they shouldn’t.
One reason a person might still think a protest vote makes sense is because of the assumption that boycotting something they don’t like is an effective means of contributing to positive change.
A boycott against a person or organization you have a problem with often makes good sense. For instance, if there’s a restaurant in town with a reputation for being discriminatory, or just for being slow to get the food out, don’t go to it. Maybe it will close and make room for another business with better performance. Or maybe it will make some changes in hopes of growing its customer base.
But when you cast a vote, whether on Election Day or beforehand, boycotting the viable candidates isn’t going to help. One of them is going to win whether you like it or not. Boycotting in this context is an example of a misapplied heuristic – a rule of thumb that’s often, but not always, helpful. Boycotting here doesn’t help you achieve your goal of eliminating or improving something you don’t like.
Omission vs. commission
Another reason people might choose a protest vote is because of a phenomenon in which people prefer to make mistakes of inaction – omission – over making mistakes that involve taking action – commission. People feel less guilty when they haven’t acted directly in support of a bad outcome. But both action and inaction can be errors, and both can deliver undesired results that constitute bad outcomes.
The omission bias can help explain why some people are hesitant to get vaccinated against serious diseases: If they chose to get vaccinated and the vaccination led to a health problem, that would be a mistake of commission. Not getting vaccinated also might lead to a health problem, but that would be a mistake of omission. People tend to prefer the latter.
Similarly, voting for a candidate you’re unsatisfied with could feel like a mistake of commission. Not voting, or voting for a third party, risks a mistake of omission – an error often assumed to be less significant. But choosing the possibility of an error of omission over one of commission doesn’t ensure you aren’t making a mistake – it just changes your mistake to one that’s intuitively more appealing.
They are both politicians, but they are very different candidates. AP Photo
False equivalence
A final reason people might opt out of voting or choose to back a third-party candidate is that they object to the assumption that they dislike one candidate more than the other. Instead, these people claim the two main options are equally bad.
But regardless of what your actual values and policy preferences are, that’s almost certainly untrue. The two candidates hold very different views on a wide range of issues, and have different records of what they have done – and not done – when in office.
Some people think about 1-in-10 chances and 1-in-a-million chances as both being in the category of “possibilities.” But they’re very different: If you’re flipping a coin repeatedly, one is about equal to your chance of getting heads three times in a row, and the other is how likely you are to get heads 20 times in a row.
All of those were actions Gore would almost certainly not have taken. The two candidates were very far from being the same, and even though my friend didn’t see it beforehand, he should have been able to.
The U.S. will have a new president on Jan. 20, 2025: Trump or Harris. A third-party winner is not a real option.
In some states voters can rank candidates in order of preference, more clearly expressing their choices without wasting their vote on a candidate who can’t win. People who believe it would be nice to have more choices with realistic chances of winning could work to adopt that system – known as ranked-choice voting – in their communities, or seek to adopt other methods that could eventually yield more viable options in the future. But it won’t happen in time for this election.
Whether you like it or not, you face a binary choice: Vote for one or vote for the other. And please vote.
Daniel F. Stone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Members of the white militia group Proud Boys march on the Ohio state capitol in Columbus on Jan. 6, 2024. Paul Becker, CC BY
The first time many Americans heard about Springfield, Ohio, came during the September 2024 presidential debate when Donald Trump falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants in the city were eating other residents’ cats and dogs.
Though shocking, these harmful rumors had been spreading on social media since the beginning of the summer and had gained more notoriety when JD Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio and Trump’s running mate, made similar statements on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter.
But what has gone mostly overlooked is the effect these racist lies have had on energizing Ohio’s nearly 50 white extremist groups.
Members of the white supremacist group Blood Tribe marched through Springfield on Aug. 10, 2024, with with swastikas on their signs.
Since then, members of the Ku Klux Klan and the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys have each marched in separate demonstrations through Springfield.
In our research, we have found that the rapidly changing social conditions in Ohio have played a significant role in the growth of extremism.
Between 1990 and 2019, for instance, manufacturing jobs shrank from 21.7% of all employment in the state to 12.5%, a loss of nearly 360,000 jobs. As a result, income disparities between the professional and working classes have widened – as has the heightened sense among some alienated white men that white conservatives are the real victims of bias in a society growing more racially and culturally diverse.
A neo-Nazi group speaks under heavy police protection at a 2005 rally sponsored by the National Socialist Movement at City Hall in Toledo, Ohio. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
For many of these alienated men, particularly those in rural areas that lack significant numbers of Black and Hispanic residents, extremist ideologies offer easy answers to complex questions that involve their sense of disenfranchisement.
In 2020, for example, the population of Springfield was about 60,000. But over the past three years, city officials estimate that the population has grown by about 25%, partly fueled by the arrival of as many as 15,000 Haitian immigrants during that time. Many of them are legally living in the U.S. under a special federal program.
Similar demographic shifts are occurring throughout the state. Between 2010 and 2022, the percentage of the white population dropped from 81.2% to 77.3%, a loss of about 250,000, putting the state’s white population at about 9.1 million. During the same time, the Hispanic population, for instance, grew from about 357,000 in 2010 to nearly 525,000.
For some of these white extremists, these population changes will lead to an inevitable race war between white people and nonwhite people. We have found that the attraction of belonging to a group that promises strength, protection and a source of identity can be particularly compelling.
The Ohio connection
In recent years, white extremism in Ohio has received attention as a result of the extremist rhetoric of and often violent crimes committed by white men who call the state home. Consider just a few examples:
James Alex Fields Jr., a white nationalist from the Toledo area, was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 for the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia. Fields was convicted of driving his car into a crowd of counterprotesters during the white nationalist Unite the Right Rally in August 2017.
Prior to the attack, Fields frequently posted the hashtag #Hitlerwasright on his social media accounts and called for violence against nonwhites and Jews.
In the summer of 2022, Ohio law enforcement officers shot and killed Ricky Shiffer after the armed Navy veteran fired a nail gun at the FBI field office in Cincinnati. On his social media accounts, Shiffer had called for violence against federal law enforcement officials after the FBI searched Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago as part of the federal probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents.
Tres Genco, a self-described incel – short for “involuntary celibate” – who hated women and believed he was owed sex from them, was from the Cincinnati area and pled guilty in 2022 to plotting a mass shooting of women at Ohio State University. Law enforcement officials in Ohio stopped the planned attack before it happened.
On April 21, 2023, Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio, and others were sentenced to nearly eight years in prison for his plan to attack power grids across the U.S. Cook and his accomplices believed that they were starting a race war and used neo-Nazi propaganda and white supremacist ideology to recruit young people to join their group.
Online recruitment tactics
Leaders of white supremacist and militia groups often use both traditional outreach and digital platforms to recruit people to their groups. Traditional outreach includes recruitment in conversations, attending events, and sharing books, pamphlets, flyers and posters.
At the same time, social media has become a critical tool for extremist groups to spread their message, recruit members and organize events.
These online platforms create echo chambers that reinforce extremist beliefs in debunked conspiracy theories, such as the assumption that the federal government is part of a plot to eliminate the white race.
In addition to the increased traffic on social media, we have seen a rise of extremist groups in Ohio known as active clubs, where members engage in physical fitness, combat training and emotional support that encourages the development of a warrior mentality in preparation for what followers believe is an inevitable race war.
Countering extremism in Ohio
Though the emergence of white extremist groups goes far beyond the borders of Ohio, we have found that community-based, educational initiatives are effective in understanding and ultimately eradicating the root causes of racial and ethnic hatred on the local level.
In our view, community engagement that emphasizes dialogue and understanding across different racial groups is crucial for demonstrating the dangers of intolerance – and the benefits of diversity.
Paul J. Becker is part of a team at The University of Dayton that received funding from the Department of Homeland Security for the Preventing Radicalization to Extremist Violence through Education, Network-Building and Training in Southwest Ohio (PREVENTS-OH) project. Funded by the Department of Homeland Security under the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program, PREVENTS-OH recognizes that domestic violent extremism and hate movements pose a serious threat to the realization of human rights.
Art Jipson is part of a team at The University of Dayton that received funding from the Department of Homeland Security for the Preventing Radicalization to Extremist Violence through Education, Network-Building and Training in Southwest Ohio (PREVENTS-OH) project. Funded by the Department of Homeland Security under the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program, PREVENTS-OH recognizes that domestic violent extremism and hate movements pose a serious threat to the realization of human rights.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By C. Michael White, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy Practice, University of Connecticut
In just a few years, brand-name injectable drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound have rocketed to fame as billion-dollar annual sellers for weight loss as well as to control blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of heart disease.
But the price of these injections is steep: They cost about US$800-$1,000 per month, and if used for weight loss alone, they are not covered by most insurance policies. Both drugs mimic the naturally occurring hormone GLP-1 to help regulate blood sugar and reduce cravings. They can be taken only with a prescription.
The Food and Drug Administration announced an official shortage of the active ingredients in these drugs in 2022, but on Oct. 2, 2024, the agency announced that the shortage has been resolved for the medicine tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound.
Despite the soaring demand and limited supply of these drugs, there are no generic versions available. This is because the patents for semaglutide – the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, which is still in shortage – and tirzepatide don’t expire until 2033and 2036, respectively.
As a result, nonbrand alternatives that can be purchased with or without a prescription are flooding the market. Yet these products come with real risks to consumers.
The dietary supplement market has sought to cash in on the GLP-1 demand with pills, teas, extracts and all manner of other products that claim to produce similar effects as the brand names at a much lower price.
Poison control centers have seen a steep rise in calls related to off-brand weight loss medications.
The role of compounding pharmacies
Unlike the dietary supplements that are masquerading as GLP-1 weight loss products, compounding pharmacies can create custom versions of products that contain the same active ingredients as the real thing for patients who cannot use either brand or generic products for some reason.
These pharmacies can also produce alternative versions of brand-name drugs when official drug shortages exist.
These products may come in versions that differ from the brand-name companies, such as vials of powder that must be dissolved in liquid, or as tablets or nasal sprays.
Just like the brand-name drugs, you must have a valid prescription to receive them. The prices range from $250-$400 a month – still a steep price for many consumers.
Compounding pharmacies must adhere to the FDA’s sterility and quality production methods, but these rules are not as rigorous for compounding pharmacies as those for commercial manufacturers of generic drugs.
In addition, the products compounding pharmacies create do not have to be tested in humans for safety or effectiveness like brand-name products do.
Proper dosing can also be challenging with compounded forms of the drugs.
Companies that work the system
For people who cannot afford a compounding pharmacy product, or cannot get a valid prescription for semaglutide or tirzepatide, opportunistic companies are stepping in to fill the void. These include “peptide companies,” manufacturers that create non-FDA approved knockoff versions of the drugs.
From November 2023 to March 2024, my team carried out a study to assess which of these peptide companies are selling semaglutide or tirzepatide products. We scoured the internet looking for these peptide companies and collected information about what they were selling and their sales practices.
We found that peptide sellers use a loophole to sell these drugs. On their websites, the companies state that their drugs are for “research purposes only” or “not for human consumption,” but they do nothing to verify that the buyers are researchers or that the product is going to a research facility.
By reading the comments sections of the company websites and the targeted ads on social media, it becomes clear that both buyers and sellers understand the charade. Unlike compounding pharmacies, these peptide sellers do not provide the supplies you need to dissolve and inject the drug, provide no instructions, and will usually not answer questions.
Peptide sellers, since they allegedly are not selling to consumers, do not require a valid prescription and will sell consumers whatever quantity of drug they wish to purchase. Even if a person has an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa, the companies will happily sell them a semaglutide or tirzepatide product without a prescription. The average prices of these peptide products range from $181-$203 per month.
Skirting regulations
Peptide sellers do not have to adhere to the rules or regulations that drug manufacturers or compounding pharmacies do. Many companies state that their products are 99% pure, but an independent investigation of three companies’ products from August 2023 to March 2024 found that the purity of the products were far less than promised.
One product contained endotoxin – a toxic substance produced by bacteria – suggesting that it was contaminated with microbes. In addition, the products’ promised dosages were off by up 29% to 39%. Poor purity can cause patients to experience fever, chills, nausea, skin irritation, infections and low blood pressure.
In this study, some companies never even shipped the drug, telling the buyers they needed to pay an additional fee to have the product clear customs.
If a consumer is harmed by a poor-quality product, it would be difficult to sue the seller, since the products specifically say they are “not for human consumption.” Ultimately, consumers are being led to spend money on products that may never arrive, could cause an infection, might not have the correct dose, and contain no instructions on how to safely use or store the product.
Instead of its traditional injection pen products that cost more than $1,000 for a month’s supply, this product comes in vials that patients draw up and inject themselves. For patients who take 5 milligrams of Zepbound each week, the vial products would cost them $549 a month if patients buy it through the company’s online pharmacy and can show that they do not have insurance coverage for the drug.
After a grilling on Capitol Hill in September 2024, pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk came under intense pressure to offer patients without prescription coverage a lower-priced product for its brand-name Wegovy as well.
When new pharmaceutical companies enter this market, they will have to offer patients lower prices than Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk in order to gain market share. This is the most likely medium-term solution to drive down the costs of GLP-1 drugs and eliminate the drug shortages in the marketplace.
C. Michael White does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Elena Jackson Albarrán, Associate Professor of History and Global and Intercultural Studies, Miami University
Demonstrators make graffiti reading ‘Columbus Out, Long Live the People’ on a fence protecting a statue of Christopher Columbus in Mexico City on Oct. 12, 2020. Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images
This is the season of patriotism in Latin America as many countries commemorate their independence from colonial powers. From July to September, public plazas in countries from Mexico to Honduras and Chile fill with crowds dressed and painted in national colors, parades feature participants costumed as independence heroes, fireworks fill the skies, and schoolchildren reenact historical battles.
Beneath these nationalist displays ripples an uneasy tide: the colonial legacies that still tie the Americas to their Iberian conquerors. And as the calendar turns to October, another holiday highlights similar tensions – Columbus Day.
Since 1937, the U.S. has observed the holiday on the second Monday of the month, commemorating the explorer’s 1492 arrival in the New World. It remains a federal holiday, even as many states and cities rename it “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” rejecting Christopher Columbus as a symbol of imperialism.
Indigenous groups protest in front of a statue of Christopher Columbus on Oct. 12, 1997, during marches in Mexico against ‘Dia de la Raza’ celebrations. David Hernandez/AFP via Getty Images
Most Latin Americans, meanwhile, know Oct. 12 as “Día de la Raza,” or Day of the Race, which also celebrates Columbus’ arrival in the New World and the tide of Iberian conquistadors that followed. But commemorating the event is all the more charged in these countries, home to the Spanish Empire’s most lucrative territorial assets and sweeping spiritual conquests. Days before taking office in September 2024, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated her predecessor’s demand that the king of Spain apologize for the genocide and exploitation of the conquest 500 years ago.
As a historian of Latin America, I’ve paid attention to the ways calendars signal a nation’s “official” values and how countries wrestle with these holidays’ meanings.
This moment of contact began Mexico’s 500-year transformation into a “mestizo” nation: a hybrid identity with largely European and Indigenous roots. During the colonial period, racial differences were codified into law, and those with “pure” Spanish bloodlines enjoyed legal privileges over the racially mixed categories that fell below them. The 19th century ushered in independence from Spain and liberal ideas that promoted racial equality – in principle – but in reality, European influence prevailed.
It was Spain that first proposed the Día de la Raza, held on Oct. 12, 1892, to commemorate the 400-year anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas – implying a celebration of Spain’s contributions to the mestizo racial mixture.
The celebration was part of a bid to fortify nationalism in Spain, as the waning colonial power continued its retreat from the hemisphere it controlled for the better part of four centuries. Spain also hoped to export the invented holiday to the Americas, strengthening trans-Atlantic cultural affinities tested by the United States’ growing sway. Across the Americas, Día de la Raza came to be synonymous with celebrating European influence.
In Mexico, the 1892 commemoration empowered members of the political elite who promoted European investments and culture as the model for modernizing the country. They used the occasion to extol the civilizing influence of the “madre patria,” or motherland, justifying the conquest and colonialism as a period of benevolent rule.
Mestizo nationalism
Only a few years later, however, the U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War swept the last vestiges of Spanish empire from the hemisphere. Spain’s exit made way for dual – and dueling – phenomena: rising patriotic spirit in Latin American countries, even amid increasing economic pressure and cultural influence from the U.S.
The 1910 Mexican Revolution ignited mestizo nationalism, which soon extended to other countries. In 1930s Nicaragua, Augusto Sandino started a revolution to oust the occupying U.S. Marines while calling for the unification of the “Indo-Hispanic Race.” Meanwhile, Peruvian intellectual José Mariátegui envisioned a modern nation built upon the ideals of a collective, reciprocal society, modeled by the Incan ayllu system. And in Mexico, beauty pageants celebrating native features gained popularity among the social classes accustomed to perusing department stores for Parisian imports.
Yet a tendency to emphasize Spanish cultural ancestry rather than Indigenous ones persisted. In the late 1930s, for example, October issues of Mexican children’s magazine Palomilla celebrated Columbus’ arrival as a heroic entry that provided the region with a common language and religion.
Pan American Day
Meanwhile, the U.S viewed Pan-Hispanic sentiments as a threat: Spanish economic goals, cloaked in racial and cultural solidarity.
The Pan American Union, an inter-American organization headquartered in Washington, saw the new date as an opportunity to forge common traditions across the hemisphere. It vigorously promoted Pan American Day celebrations, primarily among schoolchildren, exhorting teachers to implement games, puzzles, pageants and songs created in Pan American Union offices.
The holiday met enthusiastic reception in the United States. Midwesterners donned sombreros for parades, and Spanish language clubs in California hosted pageants celebrating the flags of American nations.
But Latin American commemoration was tepid at best. The Organization of American States, the successor to the Pan American Union, still recognizes Pan American Day. However, it never gained traction in Latin America and faded in the U.S. during World War II.
Recent shift
Latin America’s ambivalence toward holidays to commemorate the colonizers has taken a turn since 1992. The 500-year anniversary of Columbus’ arrival corresponded with yet another form of colonialism, in many Latin Americans’ eyes, as a new wave of multinational corporations colluded with heads of state to tap the continent’s oil, lithium, water and avocados.
Activists used the commemoration to call attention to lingering economic, social, racial and cultural inequities. In particular, the anniversary inspired Indigenous rights movements – some of which commemorated an “anti-quincentenary” to celebrate “500 years of resistance.”
A statue in honor of ‘women who fight’ has replaced an effigy of Christopher Columbus on Paseo de la Reforma Avenue in Mexico City. Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images
In some places, renaming the holiday has drawn attention to Indigenous rights and culture. Bolivians, for example, draped a statue of a European monarch in a traditional “aguayo” garment, transforming her into an Indigenous woman. However, critics suggest that removing the holiday’s reference to the colonizers erases an important reminder of the conquest and its painful legacy.
As in the U.S., monuments to colonizers are coming down – including the monument to Columbus that occupied a conspicuous spot on La Reforma, one of Mexico City’s most-traversed thoroughfares.
In its place is a new installation: a purple silhouette of a girl with her fist raised, in honor of Latin America’s women activists. She heralds a new era of statues lining La Reforma, and heroes for the future – not mired in the colonial legacies of the past.
Elena Jackson Albarrán does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Richard Flory, Executive Director, Center for Religion and Civic Culture, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Evangelicals may share the same basic theology, but they are not a monolithic group.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Yet, the reality is much more complex. In 2016, for example, evangelical leaders such as Jerry Falwell Jr. and Robert Jeffresscelebrated Trump’s victory and evangelicalism’s role in bringing America back to God. Others – such as Russell Moore, currently editor of the evangelical magazine Christianity Today – saw Trump as the opposite of what evangelicalism represents.
We have identified and described five varieties, or “types,” within the broader evangelical movement.
Evangelicals and their beliefs
At its core, evangelicalism is characterized by a belief in the literal truth of the Bible.
For example, evangelicals believe that the world and humans were created by God; that Jesus was literally God’s son and also born as a human; that Jesus died and physically rose from the dead; and that God currently acts through humans to achieve his ends for humanity. A hallmark belief for evangelicals is having a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” and a focus on encouraging others to be “born again” or “saved” through Jesus.
Despite sharing the same basic theology, there are differences within evangelicalism politics and social engagement.
We used three criteria to develop our five categories: First, each type shares a basic agreement on evangelical theology. Second, they each understand themselves as existing within the larger tradition of American evangelicalism. And third, their theology motivates how they act in the world, including appropriate social and political actions.
Typologies simplify in order to explain, but they also can blur some of the finer distinctions between categories. Still, the perspectives these different varieties of evangelicals maintain shape not only who they will vote for but also why they vote a certain way.
1. MAGA-vangelicals
MAGA-vangelicals consist of the white Christian nationalist core of the “Make America Great Again” or MAGA, movement, with some Latino, Asian and Black American pastors aligning themselves with this movement.
MAGA-vangelicals have been the most vocal and visible group of evangelicals since the 2016 election.
The origins of this group trace back to the 1980s – the time of the emergence of the religious right. MAGA-vangelicals echo many of the same issues – such as opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights and support for anti-immigration policies. One significant shift, however, since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, is an increased acceptance of political violence. “Jan. 6 was not an insurrection,” evangelical leader Lance Wallnau has falsely asserted. “It was an election fraud intervention.” The baseless election fraud myth was the pretext for the violence on Jan. 6.
2. Neo-fundamentalist evangelicals
Neo-fundamentalists are evangelicals who are as theologically or politically conservative as MAGA-vangelicals but maintain a [theological commitment] to remain separate from any relationships – whether personal, social or political – that would, in their view, compromise the teachings of evangelical Christianity and their own identity as evangelical Christians.
For example, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler and Christianity Today editor Russell Moore have opposed Trump due to his, by evangelical standards, lack of values and amoral lifestyle.
However, they support how the Trump administration furthered the political goals of evangelical Christianity. In particular, they support the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and supporting evangelicals’ religious freedom to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people in their businesses.
Yet there has recently been some qualified support among neo-fundamentalists offered for Trump himself, despite their opposition to his personal morals. For example, Mohler has argued that Trump is the better candidate to achieve their goals in 2024, despite his personal shortcomings. Mohler takes the position, though, that this support largely depends on Trump remaining committed to evangelical goals on issues such as abortion.
3. iVangelicals
iVangelicals are evangelicals primarily focused on personal faith and the weekly worship experience in their churches. They are mainly concentrated in the evangelical megachurch movement.
iVangelicals want to reach large numbers of people through their popular worship services, varied social programs and small group ministries.
There is, however, a range of beliefs and commitments among iVangelicals, with some being attracted to groups such as Evangelicals for Harris, a new effort to mobilize evangelicals to move away from Republicans, Trump and MAGA and to vote for Harris. Their approach uses biblical examples and references to argue that true Christian teachings and actions are more aligned with Democrats than Republicans.
Evangelicals for Harris.
4. Kingdom Christians
Kingdom Christians are evangelicals who, in their churches and ministries, strive to mirror the demographic and socioeconomic mix of the neighborhoods where they are rooted.
They tend to have a more diverse racial and ethnic mix of members than other evangelical churches. Their focus is to be a part of, and to serve, their local communities in a manner that mirrors their conception of the kingdom of God on Earth.
Leaders among Kingdom Christians often critique the economic and political systems that produce poverty and racial injustice. The focus of their efforts, however, is on creating relationships with local businesses and activists in the local community and contributing to policy through engagement with local officials.
Kingdom Christians are present-oriented; the kingdom of God is to be realized in the communities where believers live, as well as in some future spiritual world.
5. Peace and Justice evangelicals
Peace and Justice evangelicals are a loose network of pastors, nonprofit leaders, professors and activists. They are a small segment within evangelicalism often embedded in larger organizations, and they focus their work on key social and political issues such as racial justice, immigration reform and environmental issues. They seek to have a wider impact than just a focus on the local community.
Peace and Justice evangelicals trace their origins to the late 1960s publication, The Other Side, originally Freedom Now, which represented a freshly emerging evangelical social consciousness around issues of racial justice. Following close behind was the Sojourners community, and Sojourners magazine, which is still active today.
This is a small but growing minority in the larger evangelical world, with many belonging to traditional evangelical institutions. For example, Alexia Salvatierra, at Fuller Seminary, is a longtime “faith-rooted” community organizer and has more recently been instrumental in forming Matthew 25/Mateo25, a group that aids immigrants and “defends the vulnerable.” Shane Claiborne, a long-time urban activist, is currently head of Red Letter Christians, a movement that combines “Jesus and justice” and seeks to “live out Jesus’ counter-cultural teachings.”
Following historical evangelical voting patterns, it is likely that most white evangelicals will vote for Trump in 2024. I believe many will do so with enthusiasm, while others will vote for him because of his policies, while remaining troubled by his rhetoric.
Of the evangelicals who oppose Trump, some will refuse to vote for either Trump or Harris, refusing to cast a vote for president. Others will vote for Harris, following the example of many Republican leaders who are seeking to move beyond the damage that Trump and the MAGA movement have done to the Republican Party and to conservatism.
Meanwhile, for the Kingdom Christians and Peace and Justice evangelicals, the true values of evangelical Christianity will be supported by the more progressive policies of the Democratic Party.
Regardless of how they vote in the 2024 election, evangelicals in all of these categories will continue to promote their distinct vision of evangelicalism and educate members on how they should bring their faith to bear on important social and political issues in American culture.
Richard Flory has received funding from the John Templeton Foundation and the Lilly Endowment.
Think of your favorite fantasy or science fiction novel. You’ll know the author and title, of course. But can you think of its editor or publisher?
In publishing, the people who work behind the scenes rarely get their due. But on Oct. 1, 2024, at least, one industry pioneer got the limelight. On that day, PBS aired “Judy-Lynn del Rey: The Galaxy Gal,” the first episode of its new documentary series “Renegades,” which highlights little-known historical figures with disabilities.
A woman with dwarfism, Judy-Lynn del Rey was best known for founding Del Rey Books, a science fiction and fantasy imprint that turned fantasy in particular into a major publishing category.
As a scholar of fantasy literature, I had the good fortune to serve as research consultant for the PBS project. Due to time constraints, however, the episode could tell only half of del Rey’s story, passing over how she affected science fiction and fantasy themselves.
Judy-Lynn del Rey, you see, had very clear notions on what kind of stories people wanted to buy. For some critics, she also committed the unforgivable sin of being right.
The Mama of ‘Star Wars’
Over the course of her career, del Rey earned a reputation as a superstar editor among her authors. Arthur C. Clarke, who co-wrote the screenplay for “2001: A Space Odyssey,” called her the “most brilliant editor I ever encountered,” and Philip K. Dick said she was the “greatest editor since Maxwell Perkins,” the legendary editor of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
She got her start, though, working as an editorial assistant – in truth, a “gofer” – for the most lauded science fiction magazine of the 1960s, Galaxy. There she learned the basics of publishing and rose rapidly through the editorial ranks until Ballantine Books lured her away in 1973.
Soon thereafter, Ballantine was acquired by publishing giant Random House, which then named del Rey senior editor. Yet her first big move was a risky one – cutting ties with Ballantine author John Norman, whose highly popular “Gor” novels were widely panned for their misogyny.
Nonetheless, del Rey’s mission was to develop a strong backlist of science fiction novels that could hook new generations of younger readers, not to mention adults. One early success was her “Star Trek Log” series, a sequence of 10 novels based on episodes of “Star Trek: The Animated Series.”
This savvy gamble led to years of lucrative tie-in products for Ballantine such as calendars, art books, sketchbooks, the Star Wars Intergalactic Passport and, of course, more novels set in the Star Wars universe – so many different tie-ins, in fact, that del Rey dubbed herself the “Mama of Star Wars.”
Afterward, she became someone who, as reporter Jennifer Crighton put it, radiated “with the shameless glee of one of the Rebel forces, an upstart who won.”
A big player in big fiction
Del Rey’s tendencies as an editor were sometimes criticized – often by competitors who could not match her line’s success – for focusing too much on Ballantine’s bottom line. But she also chose to work within the publishing landscape as it actually existed in the 1970s, rather than the one she only wished existed.
In his book “Big Fiction,” publishing industry scholar Dan Sinykin calls this period the “Conglomerate Era,” a time when publishing houses – usually small and family run – were being consolidated into larger corporations.
One benefit of this shift, however, was greater corporate investment in the industry, which boosted print runs, marketing budgets, author advances and salaries for personnel.
Ballantine’s parent company, Random House, was also known as an industry leader in free speech, thanks to the efforts of legendary CEOs Bennett Cerf and Robert L. Bernstein.
Accordingly, Random House gave their publishing divisions, including Ballantine, immense creative autonomy.
And when del Rey was finally given her own imprint in 1977, she took her biggest risk of all: fantasy.
The Del Rey era
In prior decades, fantasy had a reputation for being unsellable – unless, of course, your name was J.R.R. Tolkien, or you wrote Conan-style barbarian fiction. Whereas the top science fiction magazines often had distinguished runs, fantasy magazines often folded due to lack of sales.
In 1975, though, del Rey hired her husband, Lester del Rey, to develop a fantasy line, and when Del Rey Books launched two years later, it landed major successes with bestsellers such as Terry Brooks’ “The Sword of Shannara” and Stephen R. Donaldson’s “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.” Yet even though Lester edited the fantasy authors, Judy-Lynn oversaw the imprint and the marketing.
Today, most people know the 1987 film, but the movie originated as a much earlier novel by William Goldman. The original 1973 edition, however, sold poorly. It might have faded into obscurity had del Rey not been determined to revive Ballantine’s backlist.
She reissued “The Princess Bride” in 1977 with a dazzling, gate-folded die-cut cover and a new promotional campaign, without which the novel – and the film – might never have found its later success.
Accolades accumulate
Thanks to these efforts, Del Rey Books dominated genre publishing, producing more bestselling titles through 1990 than every other science fiction and fantasy publisher combined. Yet despite complaints that the imprint prioritized commercial success over literary merit, Del Rey authors earned their fair share of literary accolades.
The prestigious Locus Poll Award for best science fiction novel went to Del Rey authors Julian May and Isaac Asimov in 1982 and 1983. Other Locus awardees include Patricia A. McKillip, Robert A. Heinlein, Larry Niven, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Barbara Hambly.
Barry Hughart’s “Bridge of Birds” was one of two winners for the World Fantasy Award in 1985 and won the Mythopoeic Society Award in 1986. Even more impressively, Del Rey ran away with the Science Fiction Book Club Award during that prize’s first nine years of existence, winning seven of them. The imprint’s titles also won three consecutive August Derleth Fantasy Awards – now called the British Fantasy Award – from 1977 through 1979.
Yet despite these accolades, Del Rey’s reputation continued to suffer from its own commercial success. Notably, Judy-Lynn del Rey was never nominated for a Hugo Award for best professional editor. When she died in 1986, the Hugo committee belatedly tried granting her a posthumous award, but her husband, Lester, refused to accept it, saying that it came too late.
Although the current narrative continues to be that Del Rey Books published mainly formulaic mass-market fiction in its science fiction and fantasy lines, the time may be ripe to celebrate the foresight and iconoclasm of a publisher who expanded speculative fiction beyond the borders of a small genre fandom.
I was research consultant for the PBS episode mentioned in the article, but I am not an employee of PBS or any other organization mentioned in this article.
The news drew strong reactions from critics: 25 Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland protesting any changes to federal marijuana laws. They argued that the decision “was not properly researched … and is merely responding to the popularity of marijuana and not the actual science.”
As a philosopher and drug policy expert, I focus on assessing arguments and evidence rather than politics or rhetoric. So, what are the arguments for and against rescheduling cannabis?
Scheduling under the Controlled Substances Act
The Controlled Substances Act places each prohibited drug into one of five schedules based on known medical use, addictive potential and safety. Schedule I drugs – which, along with marijuana, also includes heroin, LSD, psilocybin, ecstasy (MDMA) and quaaludes – is the most restrictive category.
Schedule I substances cannot be legally used for any purpose, including medical use or research, though an exception for research can be made with special permission from the DEA. The criteria for inclusion in the Schedule I category is that the substance has a high potential for abuse, is extremely addictive and has “no currently accepted medical use.”
Schedule II, which is slightly less restrictive than Schedule I, includes drugs that are addictive and potentially unsafe but also have some accepted medical use. These include strong opioids such as fentanyl, as well as cocaine, PCP and methamphetamine. Though they are still tightly regulated, Schedule II drugs can be used medically with a prescription or administered by a licensed physician.
Schedule III is much less restrictive and is intended for substances with legitimate medical use and only moderate risk of abuse or dependency. This category includes low-dose morphine, anabolic steroids and ketamine.
Schedule IV – which includes the sedative valium, the weak opioid tramadol and sleep medicines such as Ambien – is even less restrictive.
The least restrictive category is Schedule V, which includes cough syrups with codeine and calcium channel blockers such as gabapentin and pregabalin. All scheduled drugs require a doctor’s prescription and can be distributed only by licensed pharmacies.
What rescheduling would mean for marijuana
The push to reschedule is largely to make federal laws consistent with state medical marijuana programs that – as of October 2024 – are legal in 38 states plus the District of Columbia.
Moving marijuana to Schedule III would not change its legal status in states where it is banned. It would make marijuana legal at the federal level but only for medical use. Recreational use would still be federally prohibited, even though it is currently legal in 24 states plus Washington.
Rescheduling, however, might not make medical marijuana any easier for patients to access and could even make it much harder for some. Currently, getting a medical marijuana card is quite easy in most states. In Washington D.C., where I live, patients can self-certify.
Reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug would legitimize its medical use.
If marijuana is reclassified as Schedule III, medical marijuana programs will have to start requiring a doctor’s prescription, just like with all other scheduled substances. And it could be distributed only by licensed pharmacies, which would put medical dispensaries that are now selling it without a license from the Food and Drug Administration out of business.
Rescheduling, however, would give medical marijuana legitimacy as a bona fide medicine. And the intent of the move is to increase access, even if it is unclear how rescheduling would achieve that.
So, assuming that rescheduling would have the intended effect of expanding access to medical marijuana, should it be rescheduled?
Medical uses of marijuana
Though there are three criteria for Schedule I in the Controlled Substances Act, the DEA in fact relies on only the medical use criterion. This was the basis of the DEA’s proposal to reschedule marijuana. The fact that almost 75% of Americans live in a state with a medical marijuana program suggests that marijuana has an accepted medical use.
More importantly, Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act already includes dronabinol, which is delta-9 THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Although dronabinol is synthesized in the lab rather than extracted from the cannabis plant, it is the exact same molecule. The FDA approved THC in the form of dronabinol in 1985 for treating anorexia caused by HIV/AIDS as well as nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy. Placing marijuana in the same schedule as its primary active ingredient makes a lot of sense.
Another argument in favor of rescheduling is that it would open up new opportunities for medical research into marijuana’s effects, research that is currently hampered by its Schedule I status. This work is critical because the system of cannabinoid receptors through which marijuana causes its therapeutic and psychoactive effects is crucial for almost every aspect of human functioning.
There is also good evidence that marijuana can help treat other conditions, including Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS), glaucoma, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, migraine, post-traumatic stress disorder and Tourette syndrome. Keeping marijuana in the Schedule I category severely hampers research that might establish more effective treatments for these conditions.
Researchers have been extremely limited in their abilities to study marijuana because of its Schedule I classification.
Balancing risks and benefits
Those opposed to rescheduling cite possible health risks associated with marijuana consumption. Heavy use is linked to an increased risk of developing schizophrenia. However, the increased risk of schizophrenia from cannabis use is comparable to that caused by watching excessive television, eating junk food or smoking cigarettes.
Long-term marijuana use can also lead to sleep problems and diminished visuospatial memory. It can also cause gastrointestinal trouble, such as cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, which is characterized by nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. The symptoms, while extremely unpleasant, are temporary and occur only after consuming marijuana. The condition disappears in people who stop using.
Marijuana use can also be addictive. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about three out of every 10 regular marijuana users meet the diagnostic criteria for cannabis use disorder.
All of the concerns above are legitimate, though it is worth noting that virtually no effective medicine is free from undesirable side effects. And although marijuana can be habit-forming, it is not as addictive as alcohol, tobacco, oxycodone, cocaine, methamphetamine or benzodiazepines. None of those other drugs are categorized as Schedule I, and alcohol and tobacco are not scheduled at all.
Unlike most other prescription medications, marijuana use is associated with many benefits. For example, in states where marijuana has been legalized, worker’s compensation payments have fallen by an average of 21% among people over 40. Researchers think that this is because marijuana helps workers better manage chronic pain. The use of marijuana for pain management also helps to reduce dependency on opioids. One study found that U.S. counties with one or two marijuana dispensaries had an average of 17% fewer opioid-related fatalities compared with counties with no dispensaries.
Research also shows that marijuana use can help to prevent Alzheimer’s by blocking the enzymes that produce amyloid plaques. It also shows promise for reducing a person’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by helping the body regulate insulin and glucose levels.
Chris Meyers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Today, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, announced the final regulatory amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act that limits the use of dry cells and improves the search and seizure of contraband in federal correctional institutions.
October 9, 2024 – Ottawa, Ontario
Today, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, announced the final regulatory amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act that limits the use of dry cells and improves the search and seizure of contraband in federal correctional institutions.
The regulations provide direction on the use of body scanner searches in federal correctional institutions. Adding body scanner technology to the Correctional Service of Canada’s toolkit gives them a fast and efficient way to detect contraband that is located on, or inside, an offender’s body. These new regulations will be monitored, evaluated, and improved as needed.
Dry cells are detention cells without conventional plumbing fixtures that allow for close monitoring of the offender while awaiting the expulsion of contraband. The new framework specifies when dry cells can be used, limits the duration of dry cell detention, and improves the monitoring of the physical and mental health of those detained. It also expands data collection on the use of dry cells to better inform decisions going forward.
These regulations, including the cap on dry cell placement duration, are a direct response to recommendations from the Office of the Correctional Investigator. They have also been informed by the advocacy and policy proposals of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, John Howard Society and the Elizabeth Fry Society, and a public consultation through the Canada Gazette, Part I held in May 2023.
Gabriel Brunet Press Secretary Office of the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs 819-665-6527 gabriel.brunet@iga-aig.gc.ca
Thunder Bay, Ontario — Please be advised that David Paul Achneepineskum , CEO of Matawa First Nations Management Company, and the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services, will highlight and celebrate the success of Matawa’s Animal Services Pilot Project.
Date: Friday, October 11, 2024 Time: 9:00 a.m. (ET)
Where: North Star Air Thunder Bay Airport 405 John Paterson Drive Thunder Bay, ON P7E 6M8 Google Maps Link (Parking available in the lot across the street)
Jennifer Kozelj Press Secretary Office of the Honourable Patty Hajdu Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor jennifer.kozelj@sac-isc.gc.ca
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Xage Security Government (Xage), a global leader in Zero Trust access and protection, today announced a $1.5 million Sequential Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with the United States Navy to prove out Xage’s Zero Trust Access and Protection and Federated Identity Management capabilities in support of multiple strategic initiatives.
This initiative supports compliance with the U.S. Department of Defense Chief Information Officer (DOD CIO) Zero Trust Target Strategy to enhance the protection of data, systems, and services with a Zero Trust model/architecture by 2027. Additionally, Xage will be used in pursuit of the strategic goal shared by the U.S. Navy’s Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I), Tactical Shore & Expeditionary Integration program office (PMW 790) and Program Executive Office Digital and Enterprise Services (PEO Digital) to create an extraordinary future involving battle networks to support the warfighter. This will support the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) DevSecOps (DSO) Overmatch Software Armory (OSA) to deliver the Navy’s contribution to Combined Joint All Domain Command & Control (CJADC-2) and tactical edge cloud Battlenet Landing IT Zone Engineering Development Model (BLITZ EDM) Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) tactical edge capability.
Xage Meets Robust Navy Security Requirements The Xage Fabric Platform is a resilient, highly available cybersecurity mesh, that underpins three core capabilities––Zero Trust identity and access management (IAM), Privileged Access Management (PAM), and Zero Trust remote access (ZTRA)––to enable secure, least privilege access both for internal users and external coalition partners. Xage also provides Zero Trust data exchange capability to ensure the integrity and authenticity of data as it is shared internally and with coalition partners.
Fulfilling the DOD’s Zero Trust Mandate The selection of Xage as a key technology solution provider is based on its robust Zero Trust capabilities in critical areas such as microsegmentation, data integrity and management, least privilege, and multi-factor authentication (MFA). These features are essential across all domains—whether IT, operational technology (OT), or cloud environments—ensuring comprehensive Zero Trust security at every layer.
Unique Architecture to Support the Warfighter In addition to fulfilling DOD Zero Trust requirements, Xage was selected for its ability to fulfill unique requirements for Navy environments.
The Xage Fabric Platform, deployed as a secure overlay with a distributed architecture and equips the Navy with the following three key capabilities, among others:
DDIL: Xage enables the Navy to provide Zero Trust Access and protection to any asset without requiring internet connection, while maintaining the operation of its identity and access functions even in denied, disrupted, intermittent, and limited impact (DDIL) environments. Access and privilege enforcement can still be enforced, even if a remote site or edge device loses connectivity to the central network.
Agentless: The Xage Fabric allows the Navy to deploy Zero Trust access and protection without requiring the installation of agents on any endpoints nor the replacement of any existing infrastructure, eliminating a significant management burden and attack vector. The approach enables the Navy to extend the lifespan of legacy mission-critical assets.
Data Exchange: The Xage Zero Trust data exchange enables the Navy to securely exchange data with joint coalition and allied partners by providing just enough access, just in time. When access is no longer needed, administrators can easily wipe the identity and access of these external users within seconds. All user activity is tracked, logged, and recorded by Xage and all activity is untraceable by an adversary.
“Xage was built to cyber-harden the most challenging and mission critical environments and we proudly partner with entities like the USSF Space Systems Command to do so, which will now include an extension of our ‘Never Trust, Always Verify’ support to the Navy,” said Xage Security CEO, Geoffrey Mattson. “Legacy devices, DDIL environments, as well as allied and coalition data exchange are just some of the critical use cases that the Navy is responsible for keeping secure and has an unwavering commitment to defend. Xage is proud to be in service of this mission and national security.”
About the Contract
PMW 790 delivers resilient, adaptable, interoperable, and affordable shore and expeditionary C4I capability for the Navy, enabling all domain mission success. PEO Digital is the service office that helps the Navy and Marine Corps with accelerating innovation and security.
The contract awarded to Xage is spearheaded by PMW 790 and PEO Digital, in collaboration with USSF Space Systems Command (SSC). Together, PMW 790 and PEO Digital are responsible for testing Xage’s Zero Trust capabilities against simulated sophisticated attacks. The PMW 790 Program Manager is requesting this special study to evaluate the approach to Zero Trust across multiple efforts within the Navy. The special study will establish the overarching applicability of Zero Trust concepts across multiple networks to support modern and legacy operational systems.
It will also test Xage’s ability to establish an enterprise data analytics architecture to provide a subset of data collection goals as stated in the DOD Data Strategy across the Navy enterprise. Included in these concepts is the reduction of the potential attack surface associated with network complexity and controls used today to connect the operational unit networks to larger more accessible enterprise networks and systems. The objective is to demonstrate and test secure data access and exchange across complex network types between systems while ensuring data integrity and authenticity services to various applications where data is being consumed. Zero Trust for the Navy requires a cohesive strategy to reach effective adoption of Zero Trust principles across a diversity of missions within the Navy’s domain.
PMW 790 is requesting BLITZ onboard Xage Security Government as a Zero Trust Identity software candidate. Xage’s software will also be added to the OSA, which is the Navy’s Tactical DSO ecosystem that supports accelerated application development.
PMW 790 is looking to leverage the USAF Cloud One DSO accreditation of Xage that supports the DOD CIO Zero Trust and reciprocity directives supported by complementary Department of the Navy CIO and Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RDA) directives for cloud, Zero Trust and starting with dollar one focusing on Identity.
Other focus areas of Zero Trust principles are data integrity and management in support of Chief Digital and Artificial Office (CDAO) initiatives as well as leveraging microsegmentation edge cloud technology for Zero Trust governance.
About Xage Security Gov Xage Security Gov, LLC is a wholly-owned affiliate of Xage Security, Inc., a global leader in Zero Trust access and protection on a mission to pioneer a secure tomorrow. Xage’s solutions and services accelerate and simplify the way organizations secure, manage, and transform digital operations across Operational Technology, IT, and the cloud. Xage products include zero trust access, privileged access management, zero trust data exchange, all powered by the Xage Fabric Platform. Learn why organizations like the U.S. Space Force, PETRONAS, and Kinder Morgan choose Xage at xage.com.
Headline: FEMA Is Contacting People Affected by Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricane Helene
FEMA Is Contacting People Affected by Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricane Helene
ATLANTA – Georgians who apply for disaster assistance for Tropical Storm Debby or Hurricane Helene may be eligible for assistance for both disasters. FEMA is placing calls to survivors in Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham, Effingham, Evans, Liberty, Long, and Screven counties who only registered for one of the disasters to inform them that they can apply for assistance for both disasters if they sustained damaged from both storms.
These calls may come from unfamiliar area codes or phone numbers. FEMA may also send a text message if they are unable to reach you by phone. If you are concerned about verifying if it is FEMA, you can call 800-621-3362. FEMA representatives never charge applicants for disaster assistance, inspections or help in filling out applications. Their services are free.
Applications for both storms must be submitted separately. Eligible survivors affected by both storms may receive funds for food, water, baby formula and other emergency needs as well as money to help pay for a temporary place to stay. Federal grant funds may help with survivors’ immediate housing needs and can be used for the cost of staying with friends and family or hotel/motel lodging. If applicants already created a Login.gov account, they may use that same account in accessing both applications.
Go online to DisasterAssistance.gov, use the FEMA App or call 800-621-3362 to apply for FEMA assistance. The telephone line is open every day and help is available in most languages. If you use a relay service, such as Video Relay Service (VRS), captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service. To view an accessible video on how to apply visit Three Ways to Apply for FEMA Disaster Assistance – YouTube.
When applying, people will need to describe what damage occurred and on what date, to ensure federal disaster assistance from the two storms is not duplicated. Keep all receipts for expenses associated both disasters, including:
Home repairs
Repairs to a septic system, water well or private road
Purchase of a generator or chainsaw
Replacement of personal property items such as appliances
Vehicle repairs or replacement
Insurance settlement or denial
For the latest information about Georgia’s recovery, visit fema.gov/disaster/4821 and fema.gov/disaster/4830. Follow FEMA on X at x.com/femaregion4 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fema.
Esther Baumann works in the lab where a team of researchers has developed an improved version of a laser-based measurement technique called dual-comb spectroscopy.
Credit: R.Jacobson/NIST
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new laser-based technique that could dramatically improve our ability to analyze a variety of materials and gases, including greenhouse gases. This new method, called “free-form dual-comb spectroscopy,” offers a faster, more flexible and more sensitive way to analyze substances in the air and other materials.
In this specific study, published in Nature Photonics, researchers demonstrated that their laboratory-based system could detect a single gas, in this case the potent greenhouse gas methane, with 22 times higher sensitivity than a traditional dual-comb system. This increased sensitivity could one day help identify small leaks or emissions that might otherwise go unnoticed, potentially aiding in efforts to combat climate change.
Technological Advancements
Spectroscopy is a sophisticated technique that allows scientists to identify and measure different materials by observing how they interact with light. Just as a prism separates white light into a rainbow of colors, spectroscopy separates the light coming from or passing through a substance, revealing its unique “fingerprint” and providing valuable information about its properties and composition.
The NIST researchers have created an improved version of a laser-based measurement technique called dual-comb spectroscopy. Dual-comb spectroscopy is a particularly high-resolution form of spectroscopy that allows many colors of light to be examined at the same time and in fine detail.
The new laser measurement technique improves on older methods by allowing scientists to control the timing of laser pulses with incredible precision. This precise control lets them focus on the most important parts of a sample’s fingerprint and ignore areas that don’t provide useful information. As a result, the smarter system can detect and measure substances much faster than before.
This new approach can be used in several ways. For example, scientists can use it to quickly create images showing how the gas is distributed in space. Alternatively, if researchers don’t know exactly what kind of gas is in the area they are investigating, they can use a generic technique called compressive sampling. This is a “smart” method of making measurements, concentrating on areas likely to have important information and taking fewer measurements elsewhere. This strategy makes the whole process 10 to 100 times more efficient than traditional methods.
Visualizing Gas Plumes
This technology can create fast, detailed images of a variety of gas clouds. In this study, researchers created real-time images of methane plumes. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, so being able to detect and address these leaks efficiently could one day help protect the environment and improve air quality. By quickly generating images of methane plumes, scientists could quickly identify where gas is escaping.
Methane cloud with free-form dual-comb spectroscopy
Researchers use free-form dual-comb spectroscopy to make videos like this 2D methane cloud. Dark areas mean there’s little or no methane present, while brighter colors show where there’s more methane. Because it can take pictures very quickly, this technology can show how the methane cloud creates swirling patterns and changes in real time, which wasn’t possible previously. This technology can be easily adjusted to look for different gases, not just methane.
This technique is useful not only for detecting greenhouse gases but for any situation in which scientists need to identify and measure gases.
Two Lasers Are Better Than One
Free-form dual-comb spectroscopy may be a mouthful to pronounce, but understanding how this technology works can be more easily digested by breaking it down into several parts that work seamlessly together.
The heart of this method lies in the Nobel Prize-winning optical frequency comb, a laser tool that produces light at a series of equally spaced, precise frequencies that resemble the teeth of a comb. These frequency combs are used for a variety of purposes, from precision timekeeping to medical diagnostics and even the search for elusive dark matter.
The “dual-comb” aspect of this technology refers to the use of two optical frequency combs working together. This approach enables rapid, precise measurements of substances by analyzing how they interact with the light from both combs. This technique is much faster than a single comb and can provide more detailed information than many traditional spectroscopy methods.
“Free-form” refers to the flexibility in highly precise frequency comb control that has recently become possible. The frequency combs emit light pulses that are just 100 femtoseconds in duration. Inside each of these brief light bursts, there’s an electric field that vibrates extremely rapidly, millions of millions of times per second. The ability to quickly and accurately control this fast light allows researchers to improve and adjust how they take measurements.
Dual-Comb’s Next Big Leap
As the world grapples with environmental challenges and the need for improved safety measures, this innovative laser technology offers a promising new tool. By enabling smarter detection of gases and other substances, it could play a crucial role in protecting both public health and the environment in the years to come.
The researchers plan to continue improving their system in the laboratory, making it even faster and adapting their approach to work with a wide range of laser wavelengths.
“The flexibility of our system means it could be adapted for a wide range of applications,” said NIST researcher Esther Baumann. “In the future, we might see more versatile and efficient sensors based on this technology in everything from air quality monitors to food safety detectors to studying how materials burn or assessing muscle health noninvasively.”
Paper: Fabrizio R. Giorgetta, Simon Potvin, Jean-Daniel Deschênes, Ian Coddington, Nathan R. Newbury and Esther Baumann. Free-form dual-comb spectroscopy for compressive sensing and imaging. Nature Photonics. Published online Sept 30, 2024. DOI:10.1038/s41566-024-01530-y
The 25th ID was activated on October 1, 1941 at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Its mission: to deter adversaries by building, sustaining and forward-posturing ready forces alongside allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility. On order, 25th Infantry Division fights & wins in large scale combat operations.
About the U.S. Army:
The Army Mission – our purpose – remains constant: To deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars by providing ready, prompt & sustained land dominance by Army forces across the full spectrum of conflict as part of the joint force.
Interested in joining the U.S. Army?
Visit: spr.ly/6001igl5L
Press Release Nokia and Furukawa Electric LatAm expand partnership in Brazil to reach data center market
Security and automation designed for the AI era are focus of new phase of partnership, designed for data centers of all sizes in Brazil.
Solutions immediately available for Brazilian market bring together Nokia’s modern data center automation platform and Nokia DDoS attack detection and mitigation software.
Existing partnership between the companies to commercialize advanced passive optical network (POL) technologies continues throughout Latin America.
9 October 2024 São Paulo, Brazil – Nokia and Furukawa Electric LatAm today announced they have expanded their partnership to immediately bring high-performance solutions in data center automation to Brazil. Partners since 2022, the two companies will also continue to offer advanced passive optical network technologies to the Latin American business market.
Furukawa will now offer Nokia’s Data Center Fabric solution, which includes high-performance data center switching platforms, running Nokia SR Linux, a uniquely open, extensible and resilient Network Operating System and managed by Nokia Event-Driven Automation (EDA), a modern data center network automation platform that combines speed with reliability and simplicity and provides guardrails that detect errors caused by automation.
Roberto Kihara, General Sales Manager for Furukawa Electric LatAm, said: “We are delighted to be able to extend our partnership with Nokia to offer the most advanced passive optical network technology available. The POL market is very hot in Latin America and we have a lot to achieve together in the region’s data center market. Brazil is a promising market and exemplary in terms of investment volume and demand for automation solutions.”
Juan Pablo Anadon, Head of Enterprise, Webscale and Partners Sales for Latin America, Network Infrastructure at Nokia, said: “Together with Furukawa Electric LatAm, we are committed to bringing cutting-edge data center technology to the Latin American business market quickly. Our new EDA platform, developed for the AI era, simplifies data center management and can cut down operational efforts up to 40%. Part of our Data Center Fabric solution, EDA is now available in Brazil just two weeks following its global launch, allowing us to work towards our goal with Furukawa to support and advance data center networks in Latin America.”
Nokia is helping cloud builders worldwide to build modern data center networks that are highly reliable, secure and easy to operate – which is essential to meet the growing demands of AI workloads worldwide.
About Nokia At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together.
As a B2B technology innovation leader, we are pioneering networks that sense, think and act by leveraging our work across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. In addition, we create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs.
With truly open architectures that seamlessly integrate into any ecosystem, our high-performance networks create new opportunities for monetization and scale. Service providers, enterprises and partners worldwide trust Nokia to deliver secure, reliable and sustainable networks today – and work with us to create the digital services and applications of the future.
About Furukawa Electric LatAm Furukawa Electric Latam is a communications infrastructure solutions manufacturer with headquarters in Curitiba/PR and other plants in Sorocaba/SP and Santa Rita do Sapucaí/MG, as well as optical cable factories in Berazategui, Argentina, and Mexicali, Mexico.
With a comprehensive portfolio of communication infrastructure solutions, it serves diverse markets such as data centres, industries, offices, operators and services, among others, at all application levels.
Furukawa Solutions brand is the result of the union of various development, production and support centres distributed around the world, relying on the solidity of the Furukawa Electric group, which has been operating globally for over 135 years, offering world-class solutions with local support and services. With a strong commitment to society, it provides infrastructure for life.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Scientists comment on Hurricane Milton in the Gulf of Mexico.
Prof Ilan Kelman, Professor of Disasters and Health, University College London,said:
“Florida should have been braced for catastrophic impacts from Hurricane Milton, especially storm surge and rainfall flooding. The possible disaster is sadly unsurprising, since Florida sits in the usual hurricane zone and it is now hurricane season. Yet the state permitted building development in dangerous locations and does not always support people who need help over the long-term to be ready for hazards.
“Human-caused climate change is strengthening hurricanes while reducing their frequency. Hurricane Milton shows exactly the climate change influence we would expect from higher storm intensity.
“Given Florida’s hurricane history including previous storms in this area in 1848, 1921, and 1946, they should have been much more prepared over the long-term. Planning decisions creating dangers and long-term lack of services to assist people who cannot help themselves for known hazards are all about choices to make disasters.”
Prof Liz Stephens, Professor in Climate Risks and Resilience, University of Reading, said:
“The wide area of intense winds and rainfall from Hurricane Milton will mean that many communities in Florida who are still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Helene will be affected again by this latest storm, even though Milton is expected to make landfall further south.
“Hurricane Milton is forecasted to track across Florida and out into the North Atlantic Ocean. This means that we are not expecting to see the same flash flooding and mudslide impacts as Helene in areas such as the Appalachian mountains, caused by Helene decaying over land.
“Rising sea surface temperatures as a result of climate change are fuelling the intensity of hurricanes, and the warmer atmosphere can carry more water. This means that the storms which do form are becoming more impactful.
“Further research is needed to understand how the risk of consecutive hurricanes is changing, as these clusters of events can greatly stretch resources for emergency preparedness and response.”
Prof Hannah Cloke, Professor of Hydrology, University of Reading, said:
“Hurricane winds grab people’s attention, but flooding is probably the biggest concern with Milton. Winds of 150mph can easily destroy buildings and cause injuries and fatalities if people are caught out in the open by flying debris.
“There are three types of floods that cause the biggest damage – storm surge causing coastal flooding, flash floods from the extremely heavy rain, and river floods as all that water rushes down channels and onto floodplains.
“People’s attention may be turned to the sky, but emergency planners will be worried about what is coming from below.”
Prof John Marsham, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Leeds, said:
How does climate change impact extreme weather?
“Weather extremes increase rapidly for even apparently small increases in global temperature – this is true for heatwaves, floods, droughts and intensity of hurricanes.
Is climate change making hurricanes more common/worse?
“Many aspects of Helene and Milton are absolutely what we expect from climate change – hurricanes need warm oceans to form, and record-breaking ocean temperatures are fuelling these devastating storms. Warm air holds more water, giving heavier rain and more flooding. Increased sea-levels from climate change give more coastal flooding when hurricanes create a temporary “storm surge” rise in sea level. Finally, climate change can give shorter gaps between extreme events allowing less time to recover – we’re now seeing people affected by Helene now having to prepare for Milton. If we rapidly phase out fossil fuels, we can stop these extremes getting much worse but will have to continue to cope with the new climate we have created and will likely have to cope with rising sea levels for centuries.
What is particularly worrying about this hurricane?
“As a climate scientist, and a parent, every extreme weather event is now a reminder of the catastrophe we will face if we do not rapidly phase out fossil fuels. The tragedy is that climate scientists have been warning of this for decades. Rapid action is critical. Most people in the UK want more action on climate change and underestimate how much other people do. We have solutions and rapid action will save trillions.”
Declared interests:
Prof Ilan Kelman: No interests to declare
Prof Liz Stephens: “I also work for the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre”
Prof John Marsham: “I receive funding from UKRI, FCDO and the Met Office”
For all other experts, no reply to our request for DOIs was received.
Following last summer’s unprecedented wildfires that devastated the historic town of Jasper, the community is rebuilding. Businesses are getting back on their feet. Visitors are returning. Jasper is resilient.
Amid the fires, we worked closely with the Municipality of Jasper and the Government of Alberta to provide urgent support to Albertans and impacted Indigenous communities. As we look ahead, we remain committed to ensuring the long-term recovery of Jasper – one of Canada’s national treasures.
As part of the federal government’s commitment to the people of Jasper, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, will also serve as Ministerial Lead for Jasper.
In this role, Minister Boissonnault will lead the federal government’s work to support people and businesses in Jasper and to ensure the community rebuilds stronger than ever. He will co-ordinate federal support with provincial, municipal, and Indigenous partners to accelerate the recovery process, report on its progress, and ensure environmental protection measures remain world class. He will be supported in this role by a working group of Cabinet ministers – each with their own mandate in helping Jasper recover.
Rebuilding from last summer’s wildfires will require a collective effort. The Government of Canada stands ready to provide financial assistance to the Government of Alberta through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA), to help with response and recovery costs and build back stronger.
A home to Indigenous Peoples since time immemorial and a place of natural beauty that has long attracted visitors from all over the world, Jasper is the heart of a vibrant community and national park. Our efforts to restore it are a testament to our commitment to Albertans and to conservation and environmental stewardship for future generations.
Quotes
“Our government is here for the people of Jasper. With Minister Boissonnault’s role as Ministerial Lead, we’re undertaking a collective effort – with resources, investments, and partnerships – to help Jasper recover.”
“As the Alberta Minister in Cabinet and a longtime Jasper visitor, I accept the responsibility that the Prime Minister has given me to lead the rebuild of one of our nation’s most breathtaking communities. Jasper holds a special place in the hearts of millions. My colleagues and I will work hard to give Mayor Ireland, the Town Council, local businesses, and every Jasperite the support they need to build the town back on their terms – and even better than before.”
Quick Facts
Last summer’s wildfires in Jasper National Park were the largest to impact the park in more than a century. Firefighter crews did a heroic job in saving 70 per cent of the infrastructure in the town of Jasper. Recovery and rebuilding efforts are focused on revitalizing both the town and park.
Over the course of the incident, over 3,000 personnel from Parks Canada and other agencies across the country worked with the common goals of suppressing the wildfires and helping community members re-enter the town and national park.
The working group of Cabinet ministers that will support Minister Boissonnault in his role as Ministerial Lead includes:
Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Harjit S. Sajjan, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada
Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs, Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada and Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities
Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
On July 25, 2024, the Government of Canada approved a request for federal assistance from Alberta to provide firefighting resources, strategic airlift capacity, as well as resources and logistics support from the Canadian Armed Forces to help keep people in Jasper and across the province safe from harm and protect their communities from wildfires.
On July 28, 2024, the federal government announced a donation-matching program with the Canadian Red Cross to support wildfire disaster relief and recovery efforts in Alberta, including in Jasper.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire, the Government of Canada stepped up to ensure all those impacted could receive essential services and benefits. This included:
Providing enhanced Service Canada delivery, outreach to evacuees, and deployment of Service Canada employees to evacuation centres to assist clients in submitting applications for benefits, such as Employment Insurance.
Replacing citizenship, immigration, or travel documents that were lost, damaged, or destroyed; extending or restoring people’s temporary resident status; transitioning employer-specific work permits to open work permits, as needed.
On October 3, 2024, Bill C-76, An Act to amend the Canada National Parks Act, received Royal Assent. The amendments made to the Act aim to enable the transfer of land use planning and development authorities from Parks Canada to the Municipality of Jasper, to support long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts.
Through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA), the federal government covers up to 90 per cent of eligible provincial response and recovery expenses following a disaster, including:
Evacuation, transportation, emergency food, shelter, and clothing.
Repairs to public buildings and related equipment, roads, and bridges.
Restoration or replacement of individuals’ uninsurable dwellings (principal residences only), personal furnishings, appliances, and clothing.
Restoration of small businesses and farmsteads, including uninsurable buildings and equipment.
Truro, Nova Scotia · October 9, 2024 · Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)
The Honourable Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development and Minister responsible for ACOA, will announce funding toward four projects for strategic tourism growth in Nova Scotia.
Date: October 10, 2024
Time: 11:30 a.m
Location:
Truro Civic Square 740 Prince Street Truro, Nova Scotia B2N 1G9
Connor Burton Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Rural Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Connor.Burton@acoa-apeca.gc.ca
The Public Health Agency of Canada announces the launch of the External Expert Review of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care.
October 9, 2024 | Ottawa, Ontario | Public Health Agency of Canada
Canada recognizes the importance of staying at the forefront of preventive health care guidance development. To ensure preventive health care guidelines meet the needs of Canada’s health care system and support the overall well-being of people living in Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has established an External Expert Review (EER) Panel to study the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care’s (Task Force) governance, mandate, and scientific review processes.
The Task Force, originally created in 1976 and re-established in 2009, is an independent, arms-length body of clinicians and methodologists with experience in primary care, public health, preventive medicine and guideline methodology. It has developed numerous national guidelines to support primary care providers, such as family physicians and nurse practitioners, in delivering preventive health care.
The EER Panel, composed of 13 experts from various fields across the health sector, will review domestic and international approaches and best practices for the development of preventive health care guidelines, and engage domestic and international experts and stakeholders, to inform recommendations related to the Task Force. This external review process builds on the 2022 Evaluation of the Task Force by PHAC. Following the review, a report will be submitted by the Spring of 2025 to PHAC for consideration.
Alexandria Forté’s professional story starts with her in a kitchen – blending, baking, and browning dishes both savory and sweet for customers to enjoy.
In a job as a chef after finishing her undergraduate degree, she says she once thought that’s how she could be of service to others – stirring, slicing, sauteing for a community that wanted to be fed.
“But it’s backbreaking work, very physically demanding, and I started to miss academic work,” she says. “Around this time, I also was doing some volunteer work and when I realized the person running that program had an MSW, I knew that was the direction I wanted to go.”
Alexandria Forté, assistant professor in the UConn School of Social Work (Contributed photo)
Fast-forward through time at the University of Denver for her Master of Social Work and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for her Ph.D., Forté is one of the newest faculty members at the UConn School of Social Work.
And she hasn’t left food behind.
While getting her MSW, she worked with youth who were living in subsidized housing and developed a curriculum around healthy eating. Then, she pivoted to work in a hospital, where she noted that many of her clients were impacted by food insecurity.
“That’s when I started to ask why more social workers weren’t talking about this. Why isn’t social work at the table when it comes to food insecurity? Often, public health leads this conversation or other disciplines, but I wanted to be at the table on behalf of social work,” she says.
Forté, an assistant professor, says she’s always thinking about how she can work food into her classroom discussions.
“As an example, I’m teaching theory, and this week we’re going to be learning about feminism and queer theory,” she explains. “Food preparation is often seen as women’s work and with feminism, there was a desire for some women to leave the kitchen and pursue work outside of the home. In other sections, we’ve discussed how disparities in access to food can be due to systemic inequities. Using food access and how different identities engage with food makes these heady theories feel more tangible.”
When it comes to her research, Forté is focused on the impact food insecurity has on one’s mental health, specifically for young people in middle and high school, and how that impact can be measured accurately.
Children as young as 9 understand what food insecurity is and know whether they’re affected, she says, yet there hasn’t been much research exploring their experience. Most often, the head of the household is the one surveyed, even though teenagers oftentimes bear the burden too.
“Children experience it differently,” she says. “They’re also trying to figure out how to bring food into the home, but from a different perspective, ‘Can I bring this pizza home from a club meeting, so my family can eat tonight?’ They may not be buying groceries, but they’re trying to get food into the home.”
Many teenagers are charged with the care of siblings, especially if adults are working multiple jobs, she notes, and even though they’re not recognized as the head of the household, at times they serve in that capacity, having to figure out what to make for dinner, maybe even going hungry themselves when food is scarce.
“We need to capture what they’re going through because it is different from adults,” Forté says. “Knowing what adults experience is important, but this 9- to about 17-year-old age range, when they’re in school, that’s what I’m interested in. If we can understand their experiences – what does it feel like to know you don’t have food in the home – we can be better at supporting their health and well-being.”
And that may mean having a discussion about policy, another area in which she’s interested.
UConn’s Husky Harvest initiative, which established food pantries on all campuses, and its Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health are two reasons Forté says she sought to come to Connecticut for work.
“Those were a huge draw for me,” she says. “They demonstrate that this university sees how important it is for people to get access to food and, in policy, that’s where we’re going to see a lot of change. I believe that access to food is a human right.”
Forté says that when she was in practice, she spent a fair amount of time connecting people with resources, sourcing the locations of pantries, food banks, and community refrigerators. Sometimes she’d go along with clients to teach them what they could do with a can of tomatoes, bag of beans, and box of rice.
She’d teach them to salvage the seasoning packet from a package of ramen noodles to spice up the blandness of another dish.
“The experience of poverty is not fun, but if you can take even just a moment and create a little bit of joy in cooking, it can become time when you experience a little pleasure in life,” she says.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is closely monitoring the impact of Hurricane Milton on investors and capital markets. The SEC also continues to monitor the prior impact of Hurricane Helene.
The SEC divisions and offices that oversee companies, accountants, investment advisers, mutual funds, brokerage firms, transfer agents, and other regulated entities and investment professionals will continue to closely track developments. They will evaluate the possibility of granting relief from filing deadlines and other regulatory requirements for those affected by the storms. Entities and investment professionals affected by Hurricane Milton or Hurricane Helene are encouraged to contact SEC staff with questions and concerns:
Division of Examinations staff in the SEC’s Miami Regional Office can be reached by phone at 305-982-6300 or email at miami@sec.gov
Division of Examinations staff in the SEC’s Atlanta Regional Office can be reached by phone at 404-842-7600 or email at atlanta@sec.gov
Division of Investment Management staff can be reached by phone at 202-551-6825 or email at imocc@sec.gov
Division of Trading and Markets staff can be reached by phone at 202-551-5777 or email at tradingandmarkets@sec.gov
Office of Municipal Securities staff can be reached by phone at 202-551-5680 or email at munis@sec.gov
Individuals experiencing problems accessing their securities accounts or with similar questions or concerns relating to either hurricane are encouraged to contact the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy by phone at 1-800-SEC-0330 or email at help@sec.gov.
Investors should be vigilant for Hurricane Milton-related and Hurricane Helene-related securities scams and check the background of anyone offering them an investment by using the free and simple search tool on Investor.gov. The SEC’s Division of Enforcement will vigorously prosecute those who attempt to defraud victims of the storms. The SEC is asking investors to report any suspicious solicitations at http://www.sec.gov/complaint/tipscomplaint.shtml.
More information about the SEC’s monitoring of the impact of Hurricane Helene can be found here.
Source: International Association of Drilling Contractors – IADC
Headline: Professionals & Students Gather in Mexico City for First IADC Latin America Regional Forum
On 25 September, IADC headquarters and the IADC Latin America Chapter hosted the first-ever IADC Latin America Regional Forum in Mexico City. The event drew 160+ attendees, including 25 students. We were pleased to sponsor students from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (UJAT), and Universidad Olmecato attend the forum.
With its top panels and speakers, this forum explored specific issues affecting this sector. Regional operations have their own unique requirements, and IADC’s Latin America Regional Forum explored those opportunities and challenges.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:
Mexico’s Unlocked Potential
Contractor Panel
Oil & Gas Industry Key Mexican Tax Considerations
Enhancing Red Zone Safety in the Drilling Industry
Education & Retention: How PAE has Fostered a Culture of Learning and Growth in Well Control & Well Integrity
Valaris Basic Training Rig Initiative
Cultivating Excellence: Strategies for Building a Culture of Continuous Learning & Innovation in Oil & Gas Companies
The Positive Effects of a Bottom-up Approach to Safety
Keynote Presentation: The Trion Project, First Deepwater Development in Mexico
Latin America Drilling Forecast: Well Mix & Potential Risks
Key Technologies to Maximize Performance & Minimize Risks in Integrated Services Drilling Projects
From Enabling to Optimizing with Controlled Mud Level MPD
Operator Panel
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of this inaugural event!
